Bangladesh gain 5-stroke lead on Day One

Chandigarh, Jan 14 (UNI) Bangladesh A' gained a five-stroke lead in the team event of the LG 107th All India Amateur Golf Championship at the par-72 Chandigarh Golf Club here on Monday.

Shahid and Zaman Mollah aggregated a total of 1-over 145 to be five strokes ahead of Chinese Taipei B'. Shahid signed the day's best card of 1-under 71, Zaman Mollah played a round of two-under 74.

Chien Yao Hung and Hao Sheng Hsu brought carded 76 and 74 respectively to put their team in second place while the Indian A' team of Manav Das and Abhishek Jha were lying third at 152. Manav Das retured a card of 6-over 78, Abhishek signed a card of 2-over 74.

Pawan Kumar, Rahul Bakshi, Tarun Ghogale, Jasjeet Singh, Zaman H Mollah (Bangadesh), Hao Sheng Hsu (Taipei), Abhishek Jha were tied for the second place while Vikram Rana, Rashid Khan, Mohd. Safdar Khan, Chandradasa (Sri Lanka) were tied for the ninth place.

Shahid began with solid pars on first five holes and then went even better making back to back birdies on the par-4 sixth and par-5 seventh, the latter being the best as many of the players failed to even make par on the 613-yard par-5 hole which is one of the longest holes in the country. However he made a bogey on the par-3 eighth to take the turn at one-under.

A birdie on the par-3 11th was followed by a bogey on the 12th.

Playing some super golf, Shahid converted a birdie on the par-5 13 th,to be two-under for the day. As he was progressing smoothly, he made a mistake on the 16th which pushed him a stroke behind.

The final round of strokeplay will be held tomorrow and the top 64 players will make it to the match-play championship which will decide the Indian Open Amateur Champion.

Scores (after 72 holes): Team scores: 145 Bangladesh A'; 150 Chinese Taipei B'; 152 India A'; 154 Pakistan A'; 156 Sri Lanka A'; 157 Sri Lanka B' Individual strokeplay: 71 Shahid (Bangladesh): 74 Pawan Kumar, Rahul Bakshi, Tarun Ghogale, Jasjeet Singh, Zaman H Mollah (Bangadesh), Hao Sheng Hsu (Taipei), Abhishek Jha; 75 Vikram Rana, Rashid Khan, Mohd. Safdar Khan (Pakistan), Chandradasa (Sri Lanka); 76 Rudresh Sharma, Deepankar Kaushal, Col. SK Lakra, Kanishk Madan, Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka), Chien Yao Hung (Taipei), Mohd. Shekawat (Bangladesh).

UNI XC HS BK BK2114